christmas_specialsfandomcom-20200215-history
Frosty the Snowman (Rankin/Bass)
|writer=Romeo Muller Jack Rollins Steve Nelson |release=December 7, 1969 |runtime=25 minutes |available=VHS Laserdisc DVD Blu-ray iTunes Google Play Amazon Video YouTube |rating=TV-G}} Frosty the Snowman is an animated Christmas special that first aired on CBS on December 7, 1969 and has aired annually since then. The special, written by Romeo Muller and produced and directed by Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, is based on the holiday song of the same name, which was originally written by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson and first performed by in the 1940s. It is Rankin/Bass's second most prominent special to be aired on broadcast channels, behind Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and is notably the longest-running animated television special to have consecutively aired annually on its original network. Synopsis On Christmas Eve, a girl named Karen and her friends build a snowman after school. After several suggestions of what to call their snowman (including " "), Karen decides to name him "Frosty." They later acquire a top hat discarded by inept magician Professor Hinkle. When Karen places it on top of Frosty's head, the snowman comes to life (and says "Happy Birthday!" in response). When Hinkle learns of the magic power his hat actually possesses, he takes it back and departs, pretending that he did not see Frosty come to life. However, Hinkle's pet rabbit, Hocus Pocus, soon returns the hat to Frosty. Frosty soon senses the temperature is rising and worries about melting. The children suggest putting him on the next train to the North Pole, where he will never melt, and they all parade into the city on the way to the train station, where Frosty has his confrontation with the traffic cop mentioned in the song's lyrics. When Karen explains that Frosty came to life and is just coming to terms with his surroundings, the cop lets Frosty go. At the train station, Frosty stows away aboard a refrigerated boxcar, since neither he nor the children have any money for a train ticket. As the train is about to leave the station, Karen and Hocus decide to join Frosty for the ride to keep him company. With that, Frosty, Karen, and Hocus wave goodbye to the other kids as the train takes off. Little do they know Hinkle has also hitched a ride on the train, intending to get his hat back. As the train continues up north, however, Frosty notices Karen is freezing and starting to catch a cold, so they get off the train, leaving Hinkle behind once again. Hinkle, seeing them escape, jumps off the train too, but falls down a mountain and crashes into a tree where a pile of snow falls on him. At Frosty's request, Hocus convinces some forest animals who are preparing for Christmas to build a campfire for Karen. Fearing that Karen still cannot survive for long in the cold weather, Frosty asks Hocus who might be able to help them. Hocus suggests (by pantomiming) the United States Marines and the President of the United States, before suggesting Santa Claus. Frosty agrees, and promptly takes credit for the idea himself (much to Hocus' annoyance). Hocus gets Santa, but Hinkle then confronts Frosty and Karen once more and blows out Karen's campfire. They are again forced to flee, this time with Karen riding on Frosty's back as he slides head first down a hill. At the bottom of the slope, they discover a greenhouse filled with Christmas poinsettias. Despite Karen's objections, Frosty steps inside the greenhouse with her, saying that he could afford to lose a little weight. Unfortunately, Hinkle catches up to them immediately after and locks them inside. Hocus brings Santa to the greenhouse only to find a heartbroken Karen in tears and Frosty melted on the floor due to Hinkle's cruel act. Santa explains to Karen that Frosty is made from Christmas snow, and that he can never completely disappear, only take the form of summer rain, until next December. With a gust of cold wind through the open greenhouse door, the puddle that was Frosty blows out the door and magically changes back into his inanimate snowman form. Hocus brings the magic hat outside, but before he can put it back on Frosty's head, Hinkle again arrives on the scene and again demands they return the hat to him. He relents only when threatened with being removed from Santa's Christmas list for the rest of his life if he so much as lays one finger on the brim. Santa states that if Hinkle is truly repentant for his mean attitude and harming Frosty, and if he goes home and writes "I am really sorry for what I did to Frosty" a hundred zillion times, he may find a gift in his stocking on Christmas morning. Hinkle promptly bids Frosty and Karen farewell and runs home to repeatedly write his apologies, assuming he may get a new hat. Santa then places the magic hat back on top of Frosty's head, bringing the snowman to life again. After celebrating, Santa takes Karen home and Frosty to the North Pole, but promises that Frosty will be back next winter. The closing credits show all the characters the next Christmas marching through the town square with Frosty in the lead, singing the titular song. Among them is a redeemed Hinkle, who is proudly wearing his new hat. At the end of the parade, Frosty gets back into Santa's waiting sleigh and they return to the North Pole, with Frosty proclaiming, "I'll be back on Christmas Day!" Cast Song *"Frosty the Snowman" Television rights CBS has broadcast the special in the USA since its debut, even after the pre-1974 Rankin/Bass library was sold first to Broadway Media, then to Golden Books, and then to Classic Media, a successor of the British-owned Entertainment Rights company, which was purchased by Classic Media's own successor, Boomerang Media. In July 2012, DreamWorks purchased Classic Media, and in turn, DreamWorks Animation was later purchased by in April 2016. The special made its cable debut on Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas in December 2019. In Canada, CBC holds the broadcasting rights. Sequels The special was followed up by two more Christmas specials produced by Rankin/Bass - Frosty's Winter Wonderland in 1976, and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July in 1979. In 1992, CBS produced a new follow-up special, Frosty Returns, which has followed up their broadcasts of the original special since then, and also accompanied it on most DVD and Blu-ray releases. created a direct-to-video sequel titled The Legend of Frosty the Snowman in 2005. Availability The special was released on home video by in 1989 and 1993, then by in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004, by in 2007, by in 2010, and by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2018. Most of the DVD and Blu-ray releases also included Frosty Returns. FrostyTheSnowman VHS 1988.jpg| FrostyAndDrummerBoy Laserdisc.jpg| Frosty VHS 1993.jpg| Frosty VHS 1998.jpg| Frosty DVD 2001.jpg| frostythesnowman2004.jpg| frostythesnowman2007.jpg| Frosty DVD 2010.JPG| Frosty Bluray 2011.jpg| Frosty Bluray 2012.jpg| FrostyTheSnowman Bluray 2015.jpg| FrostyTheSnowman DVD 2015.jpg| Frosty The Snowman Bluray 2018.jpg| Frosty The Snowman DVD 2018.jpg| Notes *When the special was originally in production, June Foray was the voice of Karen and Paul Frees voiced some of her classmates. However, shortly before it first aired, the kids' lines were redubbed by unknown actors (though a few of Foray's vocal noises for Karen were retained). However, Foray and Frees' original audio recordings were made available on the album Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and Frosty the Snowman: The Original Television Soundtrack Recordings. Foray recalled her experiences in the book The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass: : *In addition to narrating the special, Jimmy Durante sang the song, recording it for the second time in his career. He is one of the few recording artists to release the song with both its original and modern lyrics that are more familiar today. *From 2002 through 2005, ran a parody of the special during their commercial breaks at Christmas, titled Patrick the Snowman and featuring Patrick Star from in the title role. Coincidentally, Patrick's voice actor, , would voice Frosty himself a few years later in The Legend of Frosty the Snowman. Edits *On most DVD releases, when Frosty says "Great!" the animation repeats itself once. *Since 2010, all current home media releases utilize an early "workprint" master of the special. This master omits the "Rankin/Bass Present" credit at the very beginning, as well as some other differences: **Some of the sound effects are more in sync. **After Frosty says "Let's have a parade!", the children's cheering of "Yay, we're going to the railroad train!" is more audible. **The instrumental at the beginning of the special is slightly different. Goofs *Many times in the special, the petals of the flower on Frosty's hat switch between five and six. *Santa has only four reindeer pulling his sleigh instead of eight. *When Frosty says they'll have a parade and the kids are ready to march, the boy in the blue sweater is behind Karen. During the parade, the boy in the brown sweater is there. *The edges of Frosty's hat repeatedly switch from sharp to smooth and back many times in the special. *When Karen says "Then we've got to get you there!", the flower on Frosty's hat is on the right side instead of the left. This might not be an error, as it's considered an ambidextrous sprite effect. *While the kids are in the snow, most of them have short clothes on, and she has no pants under her jacket. In real life, it's bad to go out in short clothing. *When Karen tries to convince Hinkle that she and the other kids saw Frosty come to life, both boys' mouths move, even though only one voice says "Uh-huh, we sure did". *The girl in the pink dress has short sleeves with her outfit, but when she is waving goodbye to Frosty and Karen on the train, she switched to long sleeves. *When the boy in the blue sweater suggests "Bruce" as a name for Frosty, his voice is different. *Frosty takes his broomstick along with him during the parade and leaves it in town, but when he is revived, it suddenly appears out of nowhere. *Frosty's mouth doesn't move when he says "I am alive!", "Besides, I've been wanting to take off a little weight anyway", and while he demonstrates moving and juggling. Gallery Started with the snow.JPG|The special's narrator. Hinkle arrives.JPG|"Now Professor Hinkle was just about the worst magician in the world." VEhcn2XzDVJqCGDCcx90d xTNwKpkaMa862S0rVS1zg.png|"Messy, messy, messy." Kids bored.JPG|The kids certainly aren't enjoying Hinkle's magic act. frosty-snowman-disneyscreencaps.com-269.jpg|The kids rush out to play in the snow after the bell rings. We're building a snowman.JPG|"We're building a snowman, Karen. You make the head." Hinkle chasing Hocus.jpg|Hinkle comes out chasing Hocus and his hat. Karen gives the hat to Frosty.JPG|Karen places Hinkle's hat on Frosty's head... Frosty saying Happy Birthday-1.jpg|...and it brings him to life. Hinkle wants it back.JPG|"If that hat's magic, I want it back!" But you threw it out.jpg|Karen calls out Hinkle on taking the hat back. Hocus switches the hat.JPG|Hocus switches Hinkle's hat with a wreath... The hat's back.JPG|...and returns the hat to the children. Temperatures go up.JPG|Frosty explains that he'll melt as the temperature goes up. Frosty8.gif|Frosty and the kids go parading through the city. You've got to excuse Frosty.JPG|Karen tells the Traffic Cop that Frosty just came to life. No money, no ticket!.JPG|"No money, no ticket!" What's inside the refridgerated boxcar.JPG|Fortunately, the kids find a refrigerated boxcar for Frosty to stow away on. Frosty and Karen board the train.jpg|Frosty, Karen and Hocus board the northbound train... Hinkle on the train.JPG|...but so does Hinkle. Frosty notices Karen is freezing.jpg|Frosty notices that Karen is freezing. Frosty gets off the train.jpg|So he and Hocus get off the train with her. frosty-snowman-disneyscreencaps.com-1760.jpg|Hinkle gets off the train too. Hocus recruits help from the animals.jpg|Hocus asks the forest animals to help Karen and Frosty. Frosty and Hocus discuss.jpg|Frosty and Hocus think of a plan. frosty-the-snowman-and-hinkle.jpg|Hinkle demands Frosty give him the hat. 3403 7 large.jpg|Frosty and Karen slide down a snowy hill... frosty-snowman-disneyscreencaps.com-2212.jpg|...with Hinkle still in pursuit. Frosty carrying Karen.jpg|Frosty carries Karen into the greenhouse... frosty-greenhouse-full.jpg|...but Hinkle traps them inside. Santa with Hocus.jpg|Meanwhile, Hocus explains the situation to Santa Claus. frosty-the-snowman-14.jpg|Karen crying over Frosty's melted remains. Santa opens the door.jpg|Santa lets in the December wind... Frosty is revived.jpg|...and Frosty is revived. Frosty and friends dancing.jpg|Frosty, Santa, Karen, and Hocus celebrate. Karen's House.jpg|Karen waving goodbye to Frosty and Santa. External links *[http://www.cbs.com/specials/frosty/ Frosty the Snowman] on CBS.com * * Category:Specials Category:Rankin/Bass Category:1969 releases Category:Originally aired on CBS Category:Santa Claus filmography Category:Classic Media Category:Frosty the Snowman Category:Specials based on songs Category:Golden Books Family Entertainment Category:Sony Wonder Category:F.H.E. Family Home Entertainment Category:Broadway Video